In a remote Thailand village, Padaung women's neck rings stretch their necks up to eight inches. For the first time in front of a camera they take them off! The photographer's website: ayeyarwady.com (Japanese), or ayeyarwady.com/e (translated into English). The interview was later shown on National Geographic to disprove an urban legend that the neck is unable to work over time and would be fatal to remove the rings, snapping the spine.

When Dan Steffen drives his boat across the lake, his pet goose Daisy follows him at speeds up to 50 miles per hour

MERMAID GIRL

Tiffany Yorks, born with her legs fused together in a rare and deadly condition called "Mermaid Syndrome," is the first person to not only survive the surgical separation but is now a healthy 13-year-old living a normal life thanks to Shriners Hospital.

PIERCING WEDDING

Carlos and Shannon will get married while suspended in the air by hooks pierced through their skin.

MOOD CAR

This car turns yellow when its owner approaches, red if the driver swerves or brakes too quickly, and blue if you run out of gas or get a flat tire.

BEE BIKINI

Norm Gary is trying a new fashion in woman's clothing...bee bikinis made of thousands of live bees!

Can you identify this? What at a glance looks like a chainsaw blade is actually the snout of a fish used by human island warriors in battle.

Episode 304

MISS ELECTRA

Danielle Stampe lets 2,000,000 volts of electricity pass through her body, enabling her to light dozens of florescent tubes held by the audience. Just minutes ago, a test dummy burst into flame when the power was turned on!

Flesh eating bacteria caused a gaping wound in Cassi Moore's left side, took almost all of her fingers, part of her right leg and part of her left foot but, believe it or not, she survived!

NAIL TEETH PULLER

Terry Cole will pull 12 nails out of a wooden plank in 90 seconds  with his teeth!

WORLD'S BIGGEST KITE

Believe it or not, Peter Lynn built a kite that needs to be tied to two big diesel trucks just to keep it from blowing away. It's 80 yards long and 45 yards wide, and Peter will unhitch and attempt to fly it by himself!

Bobby Root pedals his bike up to 86mph, then pulls up the front end and rides a wheelie for more than 300 feet! The unconnected vehicle ahead is only acting as a windbreak in this photo.

From the archive: POCKET SKI LIFT

This 1955 invention gives any skier the ability to tackle any slope by converting a car's rear tires into a ski-lift!

FIERY SERPENT

These people hosted three-foot-long parasites for a year without knowing it. Only when the worms break through the skin can they be pulled out, one agonizing centimeter at a time. And one victim contained 60 of them! Website: www.cartercenter.com

When Sampson the swan had his beak knocked off he was going to be put to sleep but, believe it or not, a dentist was able to make him a new one and now Sampson is living a normal life

METAL PLATE MODEL

After a near-fatal car accident, model Louise Ashby was sure her career was over. But 238 metal plates now hold her face and head together, enabling this beautiful woman to return to work. Website: Louiseashby.com (link archived in 2006)

HUMAN BOTTLE OPENER

Dara Young opens 51 factory-sealed root beer bottlecaps with her teeth  in one minute. Then decides to open all 100 available!

In 1969, Congress passed a law making it illegal for any private citizen to attempt contact with anyone from another planet

GRAY SNOW

Ripley's will be in Carrabassett Valley, Maine to see skiers on snow made from sewage. Once the sewer water is treated near this ski resort, snow blowers turn it into "gray" snow on a nearby hill, where locals ski down it!

After contracting a rare form of meningitis and losing her arms and her legs, Helen Smith leads a normal life using one of the first pair of electronic hands, covered with life-like skin. And the quadruple amputee can even walk unassisted!

SCUBA-DIVING CAT

Hawkeye the cat not only swims, this feline is the world's only SCUBA-diving cat.

EYE IMPALEMENT

Construction worker Duane Reynolds fell from a ladder and was impaled on a steel rod through his eye, but he still has his eyesight after just 3 days in the hospital.

Visually impaired Dan Shaw uses an animal companion to help him get around: a seeing-eye horse. And now 3 more seeing-eye horses are in training!

SMALLEST SKATEBOARDER

Believe it or not, 2½ year old Evan Wasser (who still wears diapers) rides a skateboard that is almost as tall as he is, can jump off a three-foot ledge and land on the board, and can execute a double-jump.

Laurie Steinfeld is painting the bellies of pregnant women to look like everything from soccer balls to basketballs; most folks can't tell the difference between their bellies and the real thing. Hint: she's the basketball with a belly-button!

Yevgeny Severin was working as a forest ranger in Siberia when a bear attacked him and ripped off his face...literally! Now he has a snap-on face after 10 hours of surgery in Switzerland and a year of recovery.

In order to prove the spirit can overcome the body, these Dervish men dance themselves into a trance then hammer sharp implements into the tops of their heads while inserting pins through their faces and bodies once a year.

PURPLE MARTIN CAPITAL

To encourage the yearly invasion of Purple Martin mosquito-eating birds, this town has erected hundreds of birdhouses, including a giant 600-bird high-rise apartment over 40-feet tall!

TEXAS PIPE IMPALEMENT

A pipe as thick as a soda can pierced Ron Koerth's stomach and left a six-foot-long section sticking out his back. He survived and has returned to work as an oil field inspector.

This fossilized bone discovered in Illinois is nearly 50,000 years old. Testing revealed it to be a whale's vertebrae, reminding us that much of North America was submerged not so long ago.

STRANGE LAWS

In Mobile, Alabama, it is illegal to wear high-heel shoes without a permit

From the archive: TRICKSHOT BOWLER

This guy can do many tricks with a bowling ball, including bowling with his feet!

EXTREME BODY PAINTING

Master body-painter Loes Mehlbaum from the Netherlands shows how skillful she is by creating for Ripley's a lizard-woman who will looks so amazing that she will be mistaken for a lizard at the zoo's reptile house, and another as a mermaid on a beach, while wearing nothing but paint!

DIME GUY

Monte Pierce has the world's longest ear lobes, and can even stretch them until they touch under his chin!

From the vault: JESSE JAMES GUN

This authenticated firearm is more than 100 years old and belonged to the legendary outlaw Jesse James.

Episode 309

FLESH MOBILE

For the first time ever, Joey Strange and his two friends are suspended from a metal bar by hooks; at the same time they suspend three other people from their own bodies. A 6-person flesh-mobile with paramedics standing by throughout this live performance!

BLIND BASEBALL

Almost blind, Ben Hsu always wanted to play baseball. He now plays in a league where everyone is blindfolded and use a beeping softball.

HAIR TEMPLE OF INDIA

Every day thousands of people enter into the Tirupati Temple in India and, as a profession of their faith and devotion to the gods, shave their heads and walk out completely bald at the rate of 12,000 men, women and children a day. The hair is sold to help the poor

John Evans suffered severe injuries when he was struck by a train and woke up from emergency surgery to find his left hand had been attached to his right arm. It was only the fourth successful hand transplant anywhere in the world! With his thumb attached to the pinky finger tendon and vice-versa, he has had to relearn how to do everything including picking up a coin or writing her own name. Never walk on railroad tracks. Website: Operation Lifesaver

Today the world's smallest computer chip is the size of a grain of sand  almost too small for you to even see  and it has more memory than its predecessors, at a manufacturing cost of about 20 cents!

BODY SUSHI

Believe it or not, respected chef Chris Leahy has a catering company that serves his elaborately designed sushi displays on the bodies of nude models!

PET WASHING MACHINE

Eduardo Segura and Andrιs Diaz invented an industrial-strength washing machine that safely soaps, rinses and dries dogs and cats in less than half an hour in South Beach, Florida.

PETRIFIED RAM

From the Ripley's Vault: This tree was discovered in the 1930s; what looks like the horns of a ram are just that. Apparently, one unfortunate animal rammed this tree, got stuck, and died while permanently attached.

Josh Tenge tries to break his world record for the longest sandboarding back-flip by jumping almost 50 feet and landing upright on sand in California. Josh is also an expert snowboarder in Nevada; he compares sandboarding to hardpack groomer snow and says the worst that could happen is landing on his head, breaking his neck. Website: www.sandboard.com

RAT-TAT-TUI

These Thailand villagers have found a unique way to control their rat problem: They eat them.

CORNFIELD MONA LISA

Artist Will Sillin and farmer Mike Wissemann created a six-acre Mona Lisa  in a field of corn.

BOAT-MOBILE

Bob Sokol couldn't part with his old, rotting boat, so he transformed the watercraftinto a completely street-legal car using a VW frame.

Almost everything Stephen Cotten and Molly DeVoss own, wear and live with  from the black Explorer and white Navigator in their driveway, to their black cat and white cat, to their furniture, and even to the black and white koi that swim in their aquarium  is black and white!

This torture device was first used during the Spanish Inquisition. These tips were heated over a fire and then shoved in the eyes of the accused heretic. Later, common criminals would use them on witnesses because of what they saw.

"Spot The Not" www.ShowRabbits.co.uk

Episode 311

BMX DOUBLE BACK-FLIP

When Cory Nastazio tried to break a record with a double back-flip on a BMX bike, he was successful  until his landing. He fell off his bike and got a concussion. See Cory "Nasty" Nastazio again attempt to complete a double back flip--2 full rotations--on a dirt track, on a BMX bike.

7-YEAR-OLD POOL SHARK

Landon Shuffett can perform incredible pool trick-shots, and has defeated more than 30 adults in competition. This pool shark is only seven years old! Despite his age, he is the only player in the world who can execute the "stack of two" shot.

AMERICAN LIP PLATE

In his late twenties, Dr. Ol Baaba started making transformations to his body to help preserve rare and unusual cultures. He wears a lip plate like that of the Keyapo tribe in Brazil, has facial tattoos like those worn by the Maori tribes of New Zealand, has neck rings like the Padung of Thailand, has a nose piercing like the Highlanders of New Guinea, and has his earlobes stretched like those of the Masai tribesman.

TWO-LEGGED CAT

Miss Kitty, was found abandoned, five months old, with two broken paws that had to be amputated. Her veterinarian believed that the cat would not be able to walk on her own. However, Miss Kitty is able to get around just fine with only two legs.

Miss Kitty on 2 legs, Believe It Or Not

GRAVEL TEETH

David Krudoff hates going to the dentist so much that he crafted his own false teeth. He even drilled into his jaw so his dentures could securely fit.

BONE CHURCH

This entire Czech church is decorated with the skeletons of more than 40,000 people. A mass of bones create the altar and pews, and there is a chandelier that is made from every human bone possible. It all started in the 13th century with victims of the Black Death and a blind monk with a handful of soil from Christ's grave. The Sedlec Ossuary's crypt in Kutna Hora was too full, so a woodcarver created the current look in 1870 using all the bones.

Bee Grabbing

While hundreds of bees buzz wildly, Sripad Hegde pulls out fresh honey from their hive, with his bare hands!

CRUSHED-CAR SURVIVOR

As Joe Spring was driving to visit some friends, he swerved off the road and plunged 75 feet over a cliff. He was pinned in the wreck and unable to move. After eight days without food or water, a search party found the teenager. He survived and spent five weeks in the hospital.

In 1958 this super station wagon had all the conveniences of home. Among its features, it boasted a stove for cooking and is shown transforming into a tent!

BABY WITH A TAIL

In India it is believed that the Hindu God, Lord Hanuman, will be reincarnated into a monkey. Recently, a baby named Babaji was born. He has a 4-inch tail and nine spots on his body like Lord Hanuman. This mutation is causing people to pay tribute to him!

Not only is Gero Hilliger the fastest character artist in the world, beating a Polaroid camera, he can also do portraits blindfolded--by touch!

SURFING DOG

Ollie, a 10-year-old yellow lab, loves to ride his surfboard off Maui. Once he is on the surfboard he can solo while his owners wait for him near shore.

TWO-HEADED MAN

Chang Tzu Ping was born with two heads and lived with both for 40 years. He underwent surgery to have the extra head removed and now leads a normal life.

KNIFE MASSAGE

Hundreds of people claim that George Pan's amazing massage has not only taken away their pain but helped cure them of disease. He does it by tapping their skin with the razor-sharp edge of his meat cleaver at vital points which help the body heal itself.

David Linley was in a head-on collision that left him with numerous fractures and injuries. He suffered from a "hangman's fracture" of the neck, which is when the head separates from the spine. David survived and has two 8" rods that hold his head in place.

Mark Tatum, the man whose face was removed due to a deadly bacteria, is getting a new prosthetic face that stays in place using magnets implanted in his head. Doctors used a bone from Mark's leg as the foundation for his face, as well as skin and tissue to reconstruct the roof of his mouth.

BIKINI SLALOM

Surf the Rockies, an annual springtime celebration, is the one day a year skiers prove they can tackle double black diamond runs without falling by wearing a bikini, and nothing else, to protect them from a fall during competition! Website: TellurideSkiResort.com

EIGHT-FOOT RIFLE

See an English Punt Gun, which has been banned for hunting in the United States. The barrel is eight feet long, with a 2-inch bore and it requires one pound of gunpowder per shot. This gun was historically used for duck hunting, and one shot from this gun could kill 500 birds at once.

Flying Icicle

Believe it or not, this man takes a plane ride while encased in a 500-lb block of ice!

Episode 313

WOLF BOY WEDDING

Larry Gomez, who is covered from head to toe with thick dark fur, recently married in Canada and now has a new baby. Ripley's will reveal what the baby looks like. Will the baby suffer from the same condition as Larry? Mr. & Mrs. Gomez

TWELVE FINGERS

Godfrey Hill of Nottingham, England has twelve completely functional fingers, six on each hand. His hands look completely normal, and his condition isn't noticeable at first glance. Doctors were stunned because usually an extra finger is malformed and can be amputated

From the archive: BALLOON BOY

In 1932, 4-year-old Billy Crawford created his own flying machine, attached to a big helium balloon. Once he got it aloft, he managed to fly it for more than four hours over Cleveland rooftops.

REGURGITATOR

Stevie Starr is going to swallow seven medical-grade prosthetic eyeballs, and then regurgitate them back up. The eyeballs each have one letter from the word "Ripleys" on the inside of them. Stevie brings them back up in the correct order to spell "Ripley's."

Viper vs. Viper

Believe it or not, this 2003 Dodge Viper will drag race an U.S. Air Force F-16 jet fighter, also known as the Viper, at Luke Air Force Base. Websites: www.dodge.com and www.Luke.af.mil

ELVIS' BLUE SUEDE SHOES

These are the authenticated blue suede shoes owned and worn by Elvis Presley. The circular marks worn on the soles are believed to have been made during the King's hip swiveling performance on the Steve Allen show, July 1st 1956, and it's believed that he complained that they weren't very comfortable, never wearing them again. Website: Elvisarama.com (link archived in 2003)

CAT EATS WITH FORK

Faye Murrell taught her cat Tessa to eat with a fork or spoon at the table during meals. Tessa scoops up the food just like a person would, even using chopsticks for a trip to Korea. 3 kittens are now in training

GATOR GIRL

Mehgan Heaney-Grier is able to swim up to alligators, and can pick them up above her head. She is able to go nose to nose with these 'gators without being attacked because of her amazing ability to send them into a trance! She will now demonstrate her technique on a wild alligator in the swamp

Episode 314

PLAYMATE WATER CHALLENGE

The Playboy Extreme Team will attempt to set a Ripley's record by racing a Hydro Bronc across dangerous water from Alcatraz to San Francisco. A Hydro Bronc is a geodesic dome with seven inflatable pontoons (floating ball) that allows people to walk on water.
Websites: Kokatat.com water sportswear, PeterBaratti.com Playboy photographer, DanPeterson.com photographer, Sportogo.com Hydro Bronc

HEAD TURNER

Believe it or not, Aleksander Anohin will keep his body facing forward while he turns his head backwards a full 180 degrees!

Aajonus Vonderplanitz eats rotten meat because he believes it keeps him healthy. While traveling in Alaska, he heard that eating rotten meat could be used to attack illnesses and heal the body. Aajonous studied this practice and has experimented for years. His refrigerator is filled with different kinds of rotten meat, some more than a year old!

"High Flyin" Mike Brown, an accomplished motocross racer and daredevil, survived a disastrous 70 mile-per-hour crash into a tractor trailer in 1999, barely escaping decapitation. He survived, but every bone in his left leg was broken and the leg had to be amputated. He died 4 times in the ambulance and was also in a coma for four months, and will now attempt to drive an ATV for Ripley's.

From the archive: SCOOTER NUNS

In 1966, the Sisters of Divine Providence use scooters to get through the halls of their expanding St. Elizabeth's Hospital!

GRAND POPSICLE

Trygve Bauge had his grandfather's dead body frozen and stored in a backyard shed near Denver, Colorado. Trygve lives oversees in Norway, and hired someone in Colorado to take care of his grandfather. The body is stored at 196 degrees below zero and is kept packed in dry ice.

PAW STAND BEAGLE

Daisy the beagle will do a "handstand" and walk on her front paws, both her back legs in the air, on level ground and even down stairs! This healthy, normal dog taught herself the trick when booties were put on her hind legs by girls playing dress-up

Episode 315

AIRPLANE WATER-SKI

Believe it or not, Mike Seipel will waterski barefoot behind an airplane, attempt to flip into a handstand, grab the tow rope with his feet and continue skiing. If he slips and hits the water at this speed, the impact at more than 40-miles per hour could seriously injure his face and nasal cavity. Website: www.mcski.com

MONKEY SIBLINGS

Despite the fact these three brothers were born into a normal family, they are worshiped by hundreds because they take on the characteristics and body language of real monkeys. All three were born with a defect that makes their brains smaller than the average person's. They have five siblings who do not have the defect.

YO-YO KID

Evan Nagao is only 5 years old and already he can do more than 50 tricks with his yo-yo and just won a national competition. His father traveled with yo-yos around the world, and Evan got hooked at an early age. Evan won his first competition when he was only 3 years old!

Worshipers crawl for 50 miles on their stomachs to visit the temple in Mount Abu, India from Nepal. These worshipers feel that it is disrespectful to look at their god directly in the eyes, so they must make the trip by crawling for 2 days!

There's a Pit bull/bull terrier mix in Hawaii who fetches rocks. Believe it or not, "Girl" will dive to the bottom of the deep end and can hold her breath up to 45 seconds to retrieve her favorite rock!

ARMLESS IN MIAMI

Born without arms to a 16 year old mother 8 weeks premature, Diamond Excell's feet enabled her to do almost everything from school work to her chores around the house. Now, this eleven year-old girl is able to fulfill her long-time goal of riding a bike -- with a new pair of bionic arms that will allow her to hug her mom and ride the bike.

Janet Hanson has created clothing that lights up. Her company, Enlightened Designs, uses electroluminescent wire and fiber optics to make the light-up clothing. Believe it or not, Janet has created a flexible hat that displays changing messages and designs with the hundreds of lights embedded in it's fabric!
Website: Enlighted.com

Episode 316

TEETH HANGER

Believe it or not, 70 years after Tiny Kline of Ringling Brothers Circus slid across a wire high above Times Square hanging by her teeth from a pulley, Tavana Luvas will perform this same "slide for life" but this time it will be across downtown Las Vegas while also hanging from her teeth! Tavana slides across a wire 90 feet above the pavement of Freemont Street in Las Vegas, at 50 to 60 mph. This stunt was performed in 1934 for Robert Ripley, but this time no one will be arrested by New York policemen!

RAT LADY

Believe it or not, Debbie Ducommun loves rats so much that she not only dresses and photographs them but shares her home with them and sometimes lets them sleep in bed with her! Debbie enjoys putting her rats in costumes and having them do tricks. She even takes them out for walks!

Justin Kirkbride survived two plane crashes in one day, and walked away from both without any injuries. Justin was was the pilot of a single-engine plane when it went out of control and crashed. Justin went to get help and found a search team. He got into one of the helicopters, which then plunged to the ground.

THAI STILT VILLAGE

The remote northern Thai border village of Kroke-Kraak is renowned for the fact that its main form of transport is not the bicycle, motorcycle, car or bus but a pair of stilts. During the rainy season the stilts become essential for getting around the muddy town.

SKATEBOARDING CHIMP

What makes Louie unbelievable is not that he can skateboard on a half-inch pipe or skate up and off ramps without falling that much, go though tunnels, leap off ramps and stick the landing, but that he is a chimpanzee!

EIGHT SEVERED FINGERS

Harry Fishwick lost eight fingers in a severe accident with a guillotine at a paper mill. Doctors re-attached all eight digits, and he can use his hands again. He shaves, ties his shoelaces and cooks after the first such multi-finger surgery in Great Britain.

ROPE BINDING

In Borneo, some young girls are fitted with a tightly wrapped coil corset which they wear until they are adults. Believe it or not, Desiree Gonzalez, an American woman, also practices this ancient art of rope binding that will make it more difficult for her to breathe.

Jim Victor will sculpt a life-sized female model out of 800+ sticks (over 200 lbs) of butter in Philadelphia. Jim is a sculptor with more than 30 years' experience as an artist and teacher. After each exhibit, the butter is turned into bio-fuel. Jim also makes chocolate sculptures.

900 lb. sculpture, posted by Jim Victor on 1-7-08

From the vault: AFRICAN COFFINS

These sculptures are actually coffins, they are made by craftsmen in Ghana. Each carved wood box costs about $5000, which is about two year's salary in Ghana, and represents a trait or quirk of the deceased person it was made to hold.

Episode 317

RECORD CARD THROWER

Rick Smith Jr. can throw an ordinary playing card further than anyone else in the world, more than 200 feet. Watch him cut a banana in half with a thrown playing card and attempt to hit a Las Vegas sign 90 feet high. Website: www.ricksmithjr.com

Andy Dusing furnished his entire apartment with cardboard boxes. Andrew worked as a computer technician and came up with an idea to use computer boxes as furniture. He has a dining room table, chairs and even a sofa. Plus an 8 foot tall giraffe and a rhino yard sculptures made of cardboard

From the archive: AEROCAR

Believe It or Not, this haulable box unfolds to become a set of wings and tail, transforming a car into an airplane! In 1952, it was introduced to help avoid traffic. Wings were attached to the car and it could fly up to an airspeed of 60 mph. The idea didn't catch on; in addition to a driver's license, a pilot's license was needed.

HAIR PULLING

Jain monks are not allowed to cut their hair, so they have it ripped out by other monks several times a year. These monks follow strict rules of personal conduct. Haircuts are considered "fashionable" and would require them to pay a barber.

GIRL WITH HALF A BRAIN

Christina Santhouse suffered from more than 100 seizures a day because of a rare disorder called Rasmussen's Encephalitis. In 1995 she went to a specialist who performed a radical procedure that actually sliced her brain in two to take out one complete half. She was back at school eight weeks after the surgery and is now getting perfect grades.

PIG STY

John Vincent and his wife, Lynne, share their home with nine adult pigs. One of them, a 600 pound farm hog named Porkchop, jumps through hoops, dunks basketballs and plays musical instruments and even impersonates Elvis!

This hotel is made of 10,000 tons of ice and 30,000 tons of snow, and they are now adding the world's largest ice TV, which is 18 feet wide and 12 feet tall.

PENNY OBSESSION

Steve Baker is so obsessed with pennies that he wears a jumpsuit made from pennies, has made several coin bikinis, makes penny jewelry and even drives a van covered with over 90,000 pennies!

SPEAR-BEARING RITUAL

At this annual Indian festival in honor of the Lord Murugan, participants put on large frames holding hundred of spears to their body. As they dance, the spears pierce their skin.

MICROCHIP FAMILY

The Jacobs family is the first family to be implanted with microchips that contain their personal information. Derek Jacobs came up with the idea because his father, a cancer survivor, takes so many different types of medication that it's hard to keep them straight. With the microchip, doctors can access that information quickly and easily.

From the vault: Cow Magnet

This is an actual cow magnet. This magnet attracts any piece of metal that is ingested and keeps scraps, barbed wire, etc. from moving through the dairy cow's digestive system and doing serious damage. Website: Teachersource.com

After Dana Bowman lost both his legs in a near-fatal sky-diving accident, he re-enlisted in the Army to become the first double amputee to be put on active duty. With the help of his doctors, he designed numerous pairs of legs out of high-tech materials that allow him to SCUBA dive, bicycle, water ski, run, snow ski and skydive!

Episode 319

HANDHELD BUNGEE JUMP

Stephen Miller holds the end of the bungee cord that his partner is attached to, as she jumps from a Las Vegas tower that is 171 feet high. The bungee cord is not secured with anything but Stephen's hands, and a previous test with a dummy failed!

CHIP WALKER UPDATE

Marc Merger, a paraplegic, is able to walk by giving commands to a computer that controls chips and electrodes implanted in his body. Ripley's first met Mark when he took his first steps after having the chip implanted. The new technology that's been added since then allows Mark to move out of the laboratory and today he will attempt to walk unplugged from the main computer

WORLD'S FASTEST WHEELCHAIR

Unable to walk because of a childhood case of polio, 29 year old Roberto Trigueros built his own ultimate riding machine...a wheelchair that handles speeds of up to 60 mph. It enables him to cling to the back of buses for a ride to work!

The Kapalikas believe that the skull contains the soul spirit, which is a sacred guardian. After a member of their tribe dies, they take the deceased's skull and drink from it in order to gain power from the deceased!

DOUBLE ARM RE-ATTACHMENT

Believe it or not, John Thompson had both his arms torn off in a farming accident, losing half the blood in his body. He managed to phone for help and, after undergoing a pioneering surgery to reattach his arms, he defied doctors' predictions and regained the use of his hands and arms.

From the archive: MARSH AMPHIBIAN

In 1964 the Marsh Amphibian was designed to carry 1000 lbs through the toughest conditions. It could go anywhere  on land, water and swamps, requiring both car and marine licenses. It even drove sideways.

FROM THE VAULT: Iron Witch Staff

This iron staff was purchased from the estate of Dr. Gerald Gardner, the founding father/warlock of Wicca, the religion of witchcraft.

JACUZZI RABBIT

Hobie, the rabbit, is the only one of his kind who not only likes water but relaxes by floating on his back in his own tub!

ACID TEARS

Michelle Jessett of Wales has been suffering from a mysterious skin condition since she witnessed a chemical spill in 2002. Now, she cries tears of acid. The acid reacts with the salty tears and causes painful blisters and sores on her face.

SIX-SECOND TAN

At Hollywood Tans, customers can get a safe, even tan all over their bodies using a process that takes only six seconds. Website: Hollywoodtan.com. They got the idea from the jet-sprays in a carwash!

Episode 320

BICYCLE BALANCE BEAM

Jeff Lenosky rides his mountain bike over anything that gets in his way including moving stairs, trash dumpsters, benches and cars. He can even ride along the top of a two inch hand rail. For Ripley's, Jeff will attempt to ride over the worlds most dangerous obstacle course in downtown Las Vegas over 16 hurdles and set a new record with a 48-inch bunny hop!

GRENADE SURGERY

A Russian soldier has a live grenade shot by a grenade launcher lodged in his leg, and surgeons are scrambling to pull it out, in the field, before it explodes! Once removed, the grenade has to be quickly disposed of and detonated.

CHEWING GUM ARTIST

Karoly Kiss is able to sculpt figures out of ordinary chewing gum using only his tongue and teeth. He starts by chewing an ordinary piece of gum and shaping it into a tiny ball. He then shapes the chewed ball of gum into a complete figure -- a tiger, an airplane, an elephant, a spaceship -- in just 30 seconds!

Henry Smalls is a sixth-degree black belt in karate, and a fourth-degree black belt in kendo  even though he doesn't have any legs. When Henry was 12, he lost his legs in a train accident while playing on the tracks with friends. That didn't stop him from training in the martial arts, and today he is one of the most recognized Kendo practitioners in the world.

SCALPING SURVIVOR

Australian former model Catherine Bird's hair became caught in a farm machine. She couldn't free herself and was dragged into the machine, which consumed her scalp and part of her face. After the initial, 9-hour surgery, her scalp was reattached successfully, with help from live leeches.

A power plant in Iceland spews factory runoff water that people actually bathe in for its healing properties. The power plant uses natural geothermal steam for power; when the steam cools, it condenses into a gooey material that spills into blue pools next to the factory. The liquid contains many minerals and can even treat many forms of skin disease.

FROM THE VAULT: Human Scrimshaw Skeleton

This is the world's only Human Scrimshaw Skeleton, made in a secret location. If you look closely you will see that there are over 300 drawings and designs carved right into the human bones.

Episode 321

DR. FREETHROW

Witness Tom Amberry's amazing ability to shoot more free throws in a row than anyone else in the world. In 1993, at the age of 72, he set a world record by sinking 2,750 consecutive free-throw shots in 12 hours. He gives the 7 tips for never missing a basket, and coaches a Playboy model who has probably never touched a basketball before, sinking 10 baskets in a row her first ten tries! His website: www.Freethrow.com

WHEELCHAIR CAR PULL

Luan Degennar was born with no biceps or deltoids and without the use of his legs. But that isn't going to stop him from pulling a 3,400-lb car 100 feet in less than one minute.

GEOGRAPHY PRODIGY

Srisanvitha Sridhar can identify 80 countries on a globe, and she's only 3 years old. She can identify all 50 states and flags from 25 different countries. Her geography skills are better than those of many college students!

PARIS CATACOMBS

Beneath the streets of Paris, there are catacombs containing more than six million bodies. It's the largest burial ground in the world. Believe It or Not, these catacombs deep underneath the "City of Lights" make a "City of the Dark"

FROM THE VAULT: Ant Drink

There is no mistaking what gives this soda its pop once you see the label...ANTS, red and black ants to be more specific.

TARANTULA EATING

Every day, dozens of women set up at the roadside in this small village to sell a very rare delicacy...roasted tarantulas! The legs and fangs are removed and the body is fried or roasted and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

BIRD OBSESSION

John and Mary Bradford live among more than 350 exotic birds  all of which are free to come and go as they please. Believe it or not, they eat right off their plates and out of the refrigerator! It costs over $4000 per month just for bird food and their oldest bird is over 70 years old

DOUBLE HAND TRANSPLANT

Seven years after losing his hands in a bomb explosion at an airport in Austria, Theo Kelz, a former police bomb disposal expert, had a successful double hand transplant and is planning to return to work on the police force--with someone else's hands!

MOTORCYCLE PYRAMID

31 members of the Dare Devils, a group that is a part of the Indian Army, will ride on a single motorcycle without anyone touching the ground.

FROM THE VAULT: Camel Nose Plugs

This is a pair of arabian camel nose plugs. Used to prevent sand from entering the animals nostrils druring windstorms in the desert.

KANGAROO SURVIVES ARROW

An Australian kangaroo was shot through the neck with a three-foot arrow and lived with it for at least two weeks until she was located and the arrow was surgically removed. She survived and is returned to her mother in the wild!

From the archive: MOTORIZED TACKLE DUMMY

In 1948, a California football coach tested the "Tikker Blocking Dummy," a motorized tackle bag. It was designed to reduce injuries during practice, but it ended up having a mind of its own and runs all over the field before being deactivated.

POLAROID STATUE

From a photograph, this company can make a lifelike statue of your body. It takes three hours to complete the process. Once a three-dimensional image is taken, a mold is made. From this replica a completely lifelike statue of her body can be created! The detailed features are hand-sculpted and a final finish is applied. Website: wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_scanner

Episode 322

LA TOMATINA FESTIVAL

Kelly Packard will travel to Spain for the World's Largest Food Fight, where one million tomatoes are thrown annually until everyone is covered in red tomato juice.

HEAD HUNTER

William Jamieson collects shrunken heads and has more than 60, including one of an unknown white explorer with red hair and mustache. Believe it or not, he will tell us how a human head can be shrunk to 1/8 of its size.

Peter Anderson made a portrait in Australia that covers an area of more than 43 million square feet. It's a portrait of the head and shoulders of a man wearing a cowboy's hat, and it was made with a tractor. If the Empire State Building was placed on its side, it would only reach as far across as its smile. It's fully visible only from a mile in the air! His website: www.andoart.com

Hat Law

Believe It or Not, if you break a drunk-driving law in this New Mexico town you will be forced to perform community service wearing a pink hat!

SKATE CLIMBER

Eddy Matzger rarely takes off his in-line skates. In fact, he once climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro 19,344 feet high, wearing them. Now he uses them to race a cable car up San Francisco's Hyde Street, one of the steepest in any American city.

BUNNIES, BUNNIES, BUNNIES

Steve and Candace have been giving each other a bunny-related gift every day since 1992, filling their entire house from floor to ceiling with over 14,000 bunny items including 6 live rabbits roaming the house! They have bunny toothbrushes, towels, bunny toilet seat and even bunny-themed silverware and plates. The oldest item is a bunny ring that dates to the year 100 AD

Milton and Mary Dolan's cat, Chad is expected to make a full recovery after vets removed a 3-foot hunting arrow from his back, which pierced him between his shoulder blades. The arrow was removed and Chad is expected to make a full recovery. The neighbor who accidentally shot the arrow over his fence paid the $1000 surgery bill. Cat's X-ray

From the archive: 11-MONTH-OLD SWIMMER

In 1948, this 11-month-old, Sherry Lynn Whitford, was able to swim and hold her breath underwater for almost 30 seconds, a natural in the pool!

Link to this page from your website or blog: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/nn/Ripley301.html

The Duke of Brunswick, Germany, left $100,000,000 to the city of Geneva because a policeman there was courteousThe number 21978 is quadrupled when inverted: 87912Halloween was once known as Nutcracker Night, during which nuts were thrown into a fireDuring the winter of 1929/1930, the USS Lexington aircraft carrier generated electricity for the entire city of Tacoma, Washington, during a power black-outIn the most recent election, neither Presidential candidate was born in the 48 mainland states. Obama was born in Hawaii and McCain on a U.S. base in PanamaIn Sri Lanka it is common for food to be served in bowls with a saucer on top--to keep out the flies

Snakes On A Boat

Hannibal once stopped an invasion by ordering earthen jars full of live snakes be tossed onto the decks of an invading fleet of ships, which beat a hasty retreat
Penguins may walk funny, but can run as fast as a human2 scientists at Oxford recently completed a three-year study costing almost $500,000 to find out that ducks like water. In Russia, astronauts are called cosmonauts, and in China they are known as taikonauts. Tiger Woods is the first athlete to make a Billion dollars. Feng Yao (881-954 AD) retained his political post thru nine revolutions, ten Emperors and five different dynasties. In colonial Virginia, no man was entitled to vote unless he owned a clock

Food on teeth turns into acid within 5 minutes, so people who snack all day risk serious tooth damage even if the snacks contain no sugar. Ahab had no chance against Moby Dick: sperm whales have the largest brain of any animal that ever lived. A dugout canoe on Lake Walchen, Bavaria, made before 1776 is still in use. Money used by the Chinese in the 19th century was printed on bamboo

When General MacArthur returned to the Philippines in triumph he said, "Believe it or not, we are here." Some types of tiger moth emit clicking sounds that confuse the sonar used by insect-eating bats to find them. On May 26, 2010, hordes of migrating frogs shut down a major highway in Greece! In 1532, Pompeo Colonna of Naples, Italy, died after eating 12 pounds of figs for dessert. Bunches of rubber grapes were sold in America from 1887 to 1920 containing brandy, whiskey, gin or wine

Slingshots made of horsehair & wool can be used by Tibetan herdsmen to kill at 50 yards. The male Masked Weaver bird of South Africa is polygamous and builds a separate nest for each mate. The Ruins of Teghazza in the Sahara Desert are the remains of homes built of pure salt! Lake Benit in Savoy, France, is in the shape of a giant footprint. The Japanese symbol for "mouth" placed inside the symbol for "gate" means "to get information." Dr. Charles G. Pravaz (1791-1853), inventor of the hypodermic needle, died thinking it was a failure. The day that the Church of Curtea de Argesh was completed in Romania, its architect leaped to his death from its roof

The bell used by the First Baptist Church of Amarillo, Texas, was donated by Santa Fe railroad in 1965 when it scraped steam locomotive #5044. The real James Bond was an American ornithologist whose book about birds was on Ian Fleming's coffee table when he created his first spy novel. Joy, Illinois, was named for CB&Q railroad president James F. Joy, while Savage, Minnesota, was named for Col. Marion W. Savage, owner of famous race horse "Dan Patch" and the "Dan Patch Line" railroad. In Zambia, Africa, inexpensive bicycles are made by a factory that uses strong bamboo for the frames

The male Gaff-Topsail catfish carries the female's eggs in his mouth, going without food for 80 days until they hatch. Los Angeles was the first west of the Mississippi River to be one of America's ten largest cities. 16 electric trolley cars served in Kansas City, MO; Birmingham, ALA; Toronto, Canada; and then in 1968 went to Alexandria, Egypt. 60% of American households own at least one U.S. flag, and half of those display it every day. To prevent automated spamming, always list your email address online with the word (at) in parentheses instead of the "@" sign. SPAM was originally produced for US troops in World War Two, and stands for "Spiced Ham" with injected water to make it more tender

The Dead Sea, separating Israel and Jordan, is so salty it only has one life-form still living in it: bacteria. Atomic power was considered for railroad locomotives in the 1950s, and even an Air Force bomber, but lead shielding made it too heavy.

Henry Ford based the assembly line at Ford Motor Company on that of the Remington Company for assembling guns and typewriters. The Golden Gate Bridge in California cost less than half the estimated $100 million that engineers of the time had estimated. It was the first major construction project to have a giant safety net, into which 19 workers fell: they called themselves the Half-Way To Hell Club. The bridge was shut down in 1951 in 100mph winds out of fear that it would collapse like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Thomas Edison proposed installing a massive speaker inside the Statue of Liberty so she could talk. The root word of salad is "salt" because Romans used to sprinkle salt on their salad.

"Japan" is an English word, a mispronunciation of the island's real name, Nippon. One of the White House original builders rented out his wife Betsy Donahue as a prostitute to the other workers on site.